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Security

Security is the degree of protection to safeguard a nation, union of nations, persons or person against danger, damage, loss, and crime. Security as a form of protection are structures and processes that provide or improve security as a condition. The Institute for Security and Open Methodologies (ISECOM) in the OSSTMM 3 defines security as "a form of protection where a separation is created between the assets and the threat". This includes but is not limited to the elimination of either the asset or the threat. Security as a national condition was defined in a United Nations study (1986): so that countries can develop and progress safely.

Security has to be compared to related concepts: safety, continuity, reliability. The key difference between security and reliability is that security must take into account the actions of people attempting to cause destruction.

Different scenarios also give rise to the context in which security is maintained:

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The NSA bugged the United Nations headquarters in New York City, even gaining access to its internal video conferencing system, according to German newspaper Der Speigel. Der Spiegel says it has seen documents that show the NSA was able to crack the ...

The Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) hacked into content recommendation service Outbrain and its admin panel. The SEA acknowledged the attack to E Hacking News and provided screenshots showing that the service's admin panel and website backend were both ...

The State Department's security bureau is back in the market for a contractor to fly surveillance drones over U.S. embassies abroad and along diplomats' travel routes, according to contracting documents posted Monday. The department relied on surveil...

If you're one of those Internet users helping to make "password" the most popular online password for the umpteenth year in a row, you desperately need some help with your Internet security. Online security threats get more sophisticated every year a...

Password security is something many of us, as regular consumers of the Internet, take for granted. We assume the passwords that protect our most personal information are safe. But according to a recent post about Google Chrome's password security, yo...

If you don't already have antivirus software installed on your computer, you're playing Russian Roulette with the Internet. Antivirus software protects your computer from malware, short for "malicious software." Malware is the general term used for s...

Peter asks, "What's the best way to keep my organization safe from hacking? Is Two-Factor Authentication enough?" Great question. In the last year, the topic of two-factor authentication -- sometimes called two-step verification has become a hot topi...

A Turkish hacker organization could be behind a campaign targeting White House personnel who strategize digital outreach, according to forensics researchers. Three staffers have had their personal Gmail accounts overtaken by intruders, who have since...

A security researcher has claimed responsibility for the breach of Apple's developer portal. The researcher, who goes by the Twitter handle ibrahim BALİÇ, released a YouTube video claiming responsibility for the security breach, which he says took pl...

Google's "back up my data feature" for Android may be a convenient and easy way to back up files, but it also may put network security at risk by exposing the passwords of encrypted Wi-Fi networks. On his personal blog, Electronic Frontier Foundation...

On Monday, the blogging platform Tumblr fixed a security flaw in its app for iPhones and iPads -- a vulnerability that put users' accounts at risk by transmitting user names and passwords in plain text. However, the IT staffer who found the flaw says...

Google has fixed a security issue that enabled hackers to intercept data from Google Glass and even completely take over control over the device. The attack was based on Glass' ability to automatically recognize QR codes, which can tell it to connect...

Tumblr urged users to download an important update for its iOS apps on Tuesday, after a "security vulnerability" put passwords at risk. "We have just released a very important security update for our iPhone and iPad apps addressing an issue that allo...

Living with a toddler is like watching a rogue country develop weapons of mass destruction. One day, you think your 1-year-old couldn't possibly enrich uranium on his own, and the next he's learned how to pull your iPod out of the nightstand drawer, ...

The Minority Report's eye-scanning technology has become as everyday as attending classes at a small college in South Carolina. Administrators are testing out the use of iris scanners to control access to certain buildings. Winthrop University in Roc...

After holding demonstrations with select vendors, the Obama Administration is expected to pick a contractor by year's end for a $465 million high-tech border barrier -- a key component of any immigration reform deal. The eight-and-a-half year Customs...

We all know it's not a good idea to share too much information online, but what's the worst that can happen? This video, by a Belgian bank, addresses that question. Tom Degroote, a seemingly average Belgian guy, gets punked by a rep from Febelfin, th...

Google has issued a fix for an Android security hole that could potentially allow attackers to convert almost any Android app into malware, ZDnet reports. The vulnerability, discovered by Bluebox Security, has actually existed for a while, dating as ...

Online security isn't just a good idea anymore -- it's an essential safety measure for anyone using the web. In 2012, Wired senior tech reporter Mat Honan lost more than a year's worth of pictures of his newborn daughter after his Google and Amazon a...

The government doesn't need to listen to your phone calls to learn massive amounts of highly personal information about you. Americans are still buzzing about the revelation last week that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) uses a formerly top-s...

Governments love to use the actions of their enemies to help push their own agendas. Alarmed by reports that American spies are gathering data from popular web services, Ilya Kostunov -- a lawmaker from Vladimir Putin's United Russia party in the low...

Many people are scrambling to increase online security after the news of PRISM, a surveillance program that grants the NSA access to users' data on at least nine major websites, leaked last week. But there's one major roadblock to hiding online data....

If you're still not feeling queasy after reading Thursday's revelations about the National Security Agency tapping Internet records, you're probably not paying close enough attention. In short: a leaked intelligence presentation, verified by multiple...

Tests of iris-scanning technology were derailed in a central Florida school district recently after parents expressed outrage that they weren't told about the program before their kids' eyes were scanned. However, iris scanning could provide essentia...

Passwords: They’re everywhere, and most of us manage a half-dozen or so, at least. They’re also the weakest link in the authentication chain because humans aren’t great at creating passwords remembering them. A Motorola executive (and former Defense ...

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